World
War I, also known as the First
World War, and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the
Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict
lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice (cessation of hostilities)
on November 11, 1918. The Allied Powers (led by Britain
and France, and, after 1917, the United
States) defeated the Central Powers (led by the German Empire,
Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire), and led to the collapse of four
empires and a radical change in the map of Europe. The Allied powers are
sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente, and the Central Powers are
sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance.

In
the trenches: Infantry with gas masks, Ypres, 1917

Introduction

World
War I is infamous for the protracted stalemate of trench warfare along the
Western Front, embodied within a system of opposing manned trenches and
fortifications (separated by a "No man's land") running from the
North Sea to the border of Switzerland. Hostilities were also prosecuted,
however, by more dynamic invasion and battle, by fighting at sea and - for
the first time - in and out from the air. Also, there were some battles
that foreshadowed the rapid movement of WWII, take for example the Battle
of St. Mihel in 1918. Here, within a matter of one day, American troops,
supported by tanks, airplanes, and artillery, advanced over 20 miles,
clearing a salient that had been a thorn in the side of the French army
since 1914. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields,
and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on
account of food shortages and genocide committed under the cover of
various civil wars and internal conflicts. In World War I, only some 5% of
the casualties (directly caused by the war) were civilian - in World War
II, this figure approached 50%.

Ultimately,
World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had
emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, as modified by the mid-19th century
national revolutions, the processes of European national unification and
European colonialism. Three European land empires were shattered and
subsequently dismembered to varying degrees: the German, the
Austro-Hungarian and the Russian. In the Balkans and the Middle East, the
Ottoman Empire experienced the same fate. Three European imperial
dynasties, represented by the Hohenzollern, the Habsburg and the Romanov
families in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia respectively, also fell
during the war.

World
War I witnessed the first advent of Communism as a means of government in
Russia. The following decades would see the transformation of the old
Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a global
power. In the east, the demise of the Ottoman Empire paved the way for the
states such as Republic of Turkey and a number of successor states and
territories throughout the Middle East. In Central Europe, the new states
of Czechoslovakia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Yugoslavia were
born and Austria, Hungary and Poland were re-created. Shortly after the
war, in 1923, Fascists came to power in Italy; in 1933, 14 years after the
war, Nazism took over Germany. Problems unresolved or created by the war
would be highly important factors in the outbreak, within 20 years, of
World War II.

Map
of World with Participants in World War I - Allies in green Central Powers
in orange - neutral in grey

Causes

On
June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, of the Black Hand Gang, assassinated
Archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was visiting Sarajevo. The Archduke was
there to assert imperial authority over a disputed province. Though this
assassination started the cascade of events that quickly produced war, the
causes of the war were multiple and complex. Historians and political
scientists have grappled with this question for nearly a century without
reaching a consensus. Some of the more prominent explanations are outlined
below. For more details see : Causes of World War I

Versailles:
Sole guilt of Austria-Hungary and Germany

Early
explanations, prominent in the 1920s, stressed the official version of
responsibility as described in the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of
Trianon. This alleviated the victors from the consequential guilt of what
turned out to be a costly and fruitless bloodbath and was not a baseless
accusation; it was Austria, backed by Berlin, that attacked Serbia on July
29 and it was Germany that invaded Belgium on August 3, in accordance with
the Schlieffen Plan. Though drastically simplified, such an overview
clearly portrays Germany and Austria-Hungary as the aggressors, and
therefore, those bearing responsibility. Not surprisingly, this resulted
in the humiliation of Germany, which included the demand that Germany pay
all the war costs (including pensions) of the Allies. This directly
affected the global economy and indirectly contributed to the Great
Depression.

The
War Guilt clause, or Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, was a major
issue in internal German politics in the 1920s and 1930s and worked to the
favor of the Nazis, who rode the coattails of German nationalism all the
way to the Reichstag. The two became largely indistinguishable. Many
prominent British figures, especially economist John Maynard Keynes,
rejected the Guilt clause that the French avidly supported. Since 1960,
the idea that Germany was primarily responsible was revived by academics
such as Fritz Fischer, Imanuel Geiss, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Wolfgang Mommsen,
and V.R. Berghahn. Fischer, for example, emphasized that Germany wanted to
control most of Europe or at the very least, unite it through
Germany. However, as Fischer points out, diplomatic efforts to do so often
centered around Anglo-Germanic cooperation. Likewise, aside from small
Germanic territorial enclaves in Belgium, it is unclear exactly what the
Germans had to gain in a war, whereas the French and British had
territorial and economic-related ambitions, respectively.

Arms
Races and Alliances

Another
cause of the war was the building of alliances and the related arms race.
An example of the latter is the launch of the HMS Dreadnought, a
revolutionary battleship that rendered all previous warships obsolete as
"pre-dreadnoughts" upon its introduction. Ironically, this
weakened Britain's power as a seafaring nation and sparked a major naval
arms race in shipbuilding, as the new type of vessel opened up a brand-new
chapter in naval warfare, annihilating the old status-quo. The
major participants in the race were Britain and Germany, tying in with the
concept of new imperialism which gave way to the need for alliances.
Overall, nations in the Triple Entente became fearful of the Triple
Alliance and vice versa. Paul Kennedy is the historian who has most
recently promulgated this thesis.

Plans,
Distrust and Mobilization: The First out the Gate Theory

Closely
related is the thesis adopted by many political scientists that the war
plans of each power automatically escalated the conflict until it was out
of control. Fritz Fischer and his followers have emphasized the inherently
aggressive nature of Germany's Schlieffen Plan, which outlined how Germany
would defend itself in the event of a two front war. If Germany was at war
with both France and Russia, it must quickly eliminate one or the other
from combat in order to stand a chance at winning the war. Time was of the
essence. Due to French fortifications along the border with Germany, the
plan called for a violation of Belgium's, and possibly the Netherlands'
neutrality. In a greater context, France's own Plan XVII, called for an
offensive thrust into the industrial Ruhr Valley that would cripple the
German ability to wage war.

Russia's
revised Plan XIX implied the mobilization of armies against both
Austria-Hungary and Germany. All three created an atmosphere where
generals and planning staffs of all the belligerent nations were anxious
to capitalize on early offensive maneuvers to seize decisive victories.
These military general staffs had elaborate mobilization plans with
precise timetables, none more so than Germany, for whom it was decisive to
consolidate victory against France before facing the slower-mobilizing
Russia. Once the mobilization orders were issued it was understood by both
generals and statesman alike that there was little or no possibility of
turning back. Furthermore, the problem of communications in 1914 should
not be underestimated; all nations still used telegraphy and ambassadors
as the main form of communication, resulting in delays from hours to even
days.

Militarism
and Authoritarianism

President
of the United States Woodrow Wilson and many Americans blamed the war on
militarism, and this was a theme that figured prominently in anti-German
propaganda throughout France, Great Britain and, from 1915 onwards, in the
United States. The idea was that the Kaiser Wilhelm II and his autocratic
Prussian government had a thirst for military power and glory, and such
goals took priority over the needs and wishes of the people. The
implication was that a "democratic" government would not have
instigated the war, as it was widely proposed that Germany was ultimately
responsible. True peace required the abdication of such rulers, the end of
the aristocratic system, and consequently, the end of militarism. Wilson
fought a "war to end all wars", explaining, "I cannot
consent to take part in the negotiation of a peace which does not include
freedom of the seas because we are pledged to fight not only to do away
with Prussian militarism but with militarism everywhere. Neither could I
participate in a settlement which did not include league of nations
because peace would be without any guarantee except universal armament
which would be intolerable." [October 30, 1918 in Herbert Hoover, Ordeal
of Woodrow Wilson p 47] Wilson also acknowledged what he called
British and French militarism, hoping his plans for the League of Nations
would be able to secure a permanent peace.

Naval
supremacy was a goal of Britain and Germany, both following American
Admiral Mahan's influential thesis that control of the oceans was vital to
a great nation, which therefore had to have a great fleet. In the context
of the social-Darwinistic spirit in Germany, economic and military
conflict between "races" or nationalities was seen to be
inevitable by many military leaders, and the prestige of attaining to or
preserving world power was an important consideration for politicians not
only for relative international power considerations but domestic
satisfaction ones. Germany's decision to increase its navy might is the
prime example of this. Not only did increasing naval might serve to
channel latent industrial potential into increasing relative power and
eroding Britain's hegemony of the seas, the navy served as a national icon
which could harness domestic aspirations for "weltmacht" or
world power status. However, this led to military rivalry with Britain,
which in turn increased its naval might and became less and less favorable
toward Germany.

Economic
imperialism

Lenin
famously asserted that the worldwide system of imperialism was responsible
for the war. In this he drew upon the economic theories of English
economist John A. Hobson who had earlier predicted the outcome of economic
imperialism, or unlimited competition for expanding markets, would lead to
a global military conflict in his 1902 book entitled 'Imperialism'[1].
This argument proved persuasive to leftists in the immediate wake of the
war and helped explain the popularity of Marxism and Communism among those
who suffered most in the conflict. Lenin's 1917 pamphlet
"Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism" [2]
made the argument, specifically, that large banking interests in the
various capitalist-imperialist powers had pulled the strings in the
various governments and led them into the war. Related to the idea of
economic "shadow forces" working behind the scenes to escalate
the conflict, was a thesis, particularly popular in the U.S., that various
arms dealers and military industries had led the Great Powers into the
war, this is the so-called "Merchants of Death" thesis. However,
in the context of the period, it is unclear how these industries had a
direct and specific influence on policy-making, and how this sector of the
economy was more influential than other industrial and trade sectors,
which would presumably be damaged through disrupted trade flows and the
loss of markets by a large-scale global war.

Nationalism,
Romanticism, Dawn of the "New Era"

The
civilian leaders of the European powers found themselves facing a wave of
nationalist zeal that had been building across Europe for years, as
memories of war faded or were convoluted into a romantic fantasy that
resonated in the public conscience. Frantic diplomatic efforts to mediate
the Austrian-Serbian quarrel simply became irrelevant, as public opinion
(and elite opinion) in key countries demanded war to uphold national
honor. Almost all the belligerents envisioned there would be glorious
consequences to follow the war. The patriotic enthusiasm, unity and
ultimate euphoria that took hold during the "Spirit of 1914"
was full of that very optimism regarding the post-war future. (and left a
distinct mark on a young Adolf
Hitler). Also, the Socialist-Democratic movement had begun to exert
pressure on aristocrats throughout Europe, who optimistically hoped a
victory would reunite the country.

A
Culmination of European History

A
localized war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was almost a given due to
Austro-Hungarian Empire's deterriorating world position and the
Pan-Slavic, separationist movement in the Balkans, which garnered the
support of Slavic elements in Russia, primarily due to Russia's own wishes
for a warm water port. Imperial Russia's expansion eastwards is a
historical theme that deserves attention - a "threat" only
reinforced by the experiences of the Germans in the Napoleonic Wars and
Thirty Year's War - where their precarious position in the center of
Europe led to the decision for an active defense such as the Schlieffen
Plan. France's fury over "losing" the Alsace and Lorraine
territories in the Franco-Prussian War gave way to a new word, revanchism,
and Germany failed to isolate the French after the League of the Three
Emperors fell apart. Overall, the "problems" of 1914 relate
directly to problems that are a culmination of historical developments in
Europe.

Participants
in World War I

The
warring parties were divided into two camps:

Allies
of World War I

Central
Powers

Opening
hostilities

Some
of the first hostilities of the war occurred in Africa and in the Pacific
Ocean, in the colonies and territories of the European powers. On August
1914 a combined French and British Empire force invaded the German
protectorate of Togoland in West Africa. Shortly thereafter, on August 10,
German forces based in South-West Africa attacked South Africa, part of
the British Empire. Another British Dominion, New Zealand, occupied German
Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August; on September 11 the Australian
Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of Neu Pommern
(later New Britain), which formed part of German New Guinea. Within a few
months, the Entente forces had driven out or had accepted the surrender of
all German forces in the Pacific. Sporadic and fierce fighting, however,
continued in Africa for the remainder of the war.

In
Europe, the Central Powers — the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian
Empire - suffered from mutual miscommunication and lack of intelligence
regarding the intentions of each other's army. Germany had originally
guaranteed to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but practical
interpretation of this idea differed. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed
Germany would cover her northern flank against Russia. Germany, however,
had planned for Austria-Hungary to focus the majority of its troops on
Russia while Germany dealt with France on the Western Front. This
confusion forced the Austro-Hungarian army to split its troop
concentrations from the south in order to meet the Russians in the north.
The Serbian army, coming up from the south of the country, met the
Austrian army at the Battle of Cer on 12 August.

Haut-Rhin,
France 1917

The
Serbians occupied defensive positions against the Austrians. The first
attack came on August 16, between parts of the 21st Austro–Hungarian
division and parts of the Serbian Combined division. In harsh night-time
fighting, the battle ebbed and flowed, until Stepa Stepanovic rallied the
Serbian line. Three days later the Austrians retreated across the Danube,
having suffered 21,000 casualties as against 16,000 Serbian. This marked
the first major Allied victory of the war. The Austrians had not achieved
their main goal of eliminating Serbia, and it became increasingly likely
that Germany would have to maintain forces on two fronts.

The
Schlieffen plan to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved
delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with
the more slowly mobilized Russian army. Rather than invading eastern
France directly, German planners deemed it prudent to attack France from
the north. To do so, the German army had to march through Belgium. Germany
demanded free passage from the Belgian government, promising to treat
Belgium as Germany's firm ally if the Belgians agreed. When Belgium
refused, Germany invaded and began marching through Belgium anyway, after
first invading and securing Luxembourg. It soon encountered resistance
before the forts of the Belgian city of Liège, although the army as a
whole continued to make rapid progress into France. Britain sent an army
to France (the British Expeditionary Force, or BEF), which advanced into
Belgium. The first British soldier killed in the war was John Parr, on 21
August 1914, near Mons.

Initially
the Germans had great successes in the Battle of the Frontiers (14–24
August 1914). However, the delays brought about by the resistance of the
Belgian, French and British forces; the unexpectedly rapid mobilization of
the Russians; and overly-ambitious objectives upset the German plans.
Russia attacked in East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the
Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively
known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg (17 August – 2
September).

This
diversion exacerbated problems of insufficient speed of advance from
railheads, not allowed for by the German General Staff, allowed French and
British forces to finally halt the German advance on Paris at the First
Battle of the Marne (September 1914) and the Entente forced the Central
Powers into fighting a war on two fronts. The German army had fought its
way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently
incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost
itself in the months of August and September. Yet staff incompetence and
leadership timidity, as Ludendorff had needlessly transferred troops from
the right to protect Sedan, cost Germany the chance for an early knockout.

Early
stages: from romanticism to the Western Front trenches

Hopes
and fears

In
1914, the perception of war was romanticized by many people, and its
declaration was met with great enthusiasm. The common view on both sides
was that it would be a short war of manoeuvre, with a few sharp actions
(to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious
entry into the enemy capital, then home for a victory parade or two and
back to "normal" life. Many thought it would have finished by
Christmas of that year. Others, however, regarded the coming war with
great pessimism and worry. Some military figures, such as Lord Kitchener
and Erich Ludendorff, predicted the war would be a long one. Some
political leaders, such as Bethmann Hollweg in Germany, were concerned by
the potential social consequences of a war. International bond and
financial markets entered severe crises in late July and early August
reflecting worry about the financial consequences of war.

The
perceived excitement of war captured the imagination of many in the
warring nations. Spurred on by propaganda and nationalist fervor, many
eagerly joined the ranks in search of adventure. Few were prepared for
what they actually encountered at the front.

Trench
warfare begins

Advances
in military technology meant that defensive firepower out-weighed
offensive capabilities, making the war particularly murderous, as tactics
had failed to keep up. Barbed wire was a significant hindrance to massed
infantry advances; artillery, now vastly more lethal than in the 1870s,
coupled with machine guns, made crossing open ground a nightmarish
prospect. By 1915 both sides were using poison gas. Neither side ever won
a battle with gas, but it made life even more miserable in the trenches
and became one of the most feared, and longest remembered, horrors of the
war.

After
the First Battle of the Marne, both Entente and German forces began a
series of outflanking manoeuvres to try to force the other to retreat, in
the so-called Race to the Sea. Britain and France soon found themselves
facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's Flemish
coast. Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany
defended occupied territories. One consequence was that German trenches
were much better constructed than those of their enemy: Anglo-French
trenches were only intended to be 'temporary' before their forces broke
through German defences. Some hoped to break the stalemate by utilizing
science and technology. In April 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for
the first time, opening a four mile wide hole in the Allied lines when
French colonial troops retreated before it. This breach was closed by
Canadian soldiers at both the Second Battle of Ypres and Third Battle of
Ypres, (where over 5000 Canadian soldiers were gassed to death), earning
German respect.

Neither
side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years,
though protracted German action at Verdun throughout 1916, and the
Entente's failure at the Somme, in the summer of 1916, brought the
exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at more
frontal assaults, at terrible cost to the French poilu (infantry), led to
mutinies which threatened the integrity of the front line, after the
Nivelle Offensive in spring of 1917. News of the Russian Revolution gave a
new incentive to socialist sentiments among the troops. Red flags were
hoisted and the Internationale was sung on several occasions. At the
height of the mutiny, 30,000 to 40,000 French soldiers participated.

Canadian
troops advanced behind a tank at the Battle of Vimy Ridge

One
of Canada's greatest military victories

Throughout
1915-17, the British Empire and France suffered many more casualties than
Germany, but both sides lost millions of soldiers to injury and disease.
Around 800,000 soldiers from the British Empire were on the Western Front
at any one time. 1,000 battalions, each occupying a sector of the line
from the North Sea to the Orne River, operated on a month-long four-stage
rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained
over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around a
week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the
reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens
areas.

In
the British-led Battle of Arras during the 1917 campaign, the only
military success was the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps under
Sir Arthur Currie. It provided the allies with great military advantage
and greatly contributed to the identity of Canada. See the Battle of Vimy
Ridge for more information

Southern
theatres

Ottoman
Empire

The
Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October–November 1914, due
to the secret Turko-German Alliance signed in August 1914, threatening
Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and
the East via the Suez canal.
The British Empire opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli
(1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks were successful
in repelling the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), forcing
their eventual withdrawal and evacuation. In Mesopotamia, by contrast,
after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915–16), British Empire forces
reorganised and captured Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west in the
Sinai and Palestine Campaign, initial British failures were overcome with
Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the Egyptian Expeditionary
Force,under Field Marshall Edmund Allenby, going on to break the Ottoman
forces at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918.

Russian
armies generally had the best of it in the Caucasus. Vice-Generalissimo
Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Turkish armed forces, was a very
ambitious man, with a dream to conquer central Asia. He was not, however,
a practical soldier. He launched an offensive with 100,000 troops against
the Russians in the Caucasus in December of 1914. Insisting on a frontal
attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter,
Enver lost 86% of his force at the Battle of Sarikamis. The Russian
commander from 1915 to 1916, General Nikolai Yudenich, with a string of
victories over the Ottoman forces, drove the Turks out of much of
present-day Armenia, and tragically provided a context for the deportation
of the Armenian population in eastern Armenia.

In
1917, Russian Grand Duke Nicholas assumed senior control over the Caucasus
front. Nicholas tried to have a railway built from Russian Georgia to the
conquered territories with a view to bringing up more supplies for a new
offensive in 1917. But, in March of 1917 (February in the
pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Czar was overthrown in the
February Revolution and the Russian army began to slowly fall apart.

Italian
participation

Italy
had been allied to the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882, but
had its own designs against Austrian territory in the Trentino, Istria and
Dalmatia, and maintained a secret 1902 understanding with France,
effectively nullifying its alliance commitments. Italy refused to join
Germany and Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the war, because their
alliance was defensive, while Austria had declared war on Serbia. The
Austrian government started negotiations to obtain Italian neutrality in
exchange for French territories (Tunisia), but Italy joined the Entente by
signing the London Pact in April and declaring war on Austria-Hungary in
May 1915; it declared war against Germany fifteen months later.

In
general, the Italians enjoyed numerical superiority, but were poorly
equipped. The Italians went on the offense to achieve their territorial
goals. In the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarian defence took advantage
of the elevation of their bases in the mostly mountainous terrain, which
was anything but suitable for military offensives. After an initial
Austro-Hungaric strategic retreat to better positions, the front remained
mostly unchanged, while Austrian Kaiserschützen and Standschützen and
Italian Alpini fought bitter close combat battles during summer and tried
to survive during winter in the high mountains. The Austro-Hungarians
counter-attacked in the Altopiano of Asiago towards Verona and Padua in
the spring of 1916 (Strafexpedition), but they also made little
progress.

Beginning
in 1915, the Italians mounted 11 major offensives on the other front, the
Isonzo front (the part of the border north of Trieste), all repelled by
the Austro-Hungarians, who had the higher ground. In the summer of 1916,
the Italians captured the town of Gorizia. After this minor victory, the
front remained practically stable for over one year, despite several
Italian offensives, again all on the Isonzo front. In the fall of 1917,
thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austrians
received large reinforcements, including German assault troops. On October
26, they launched a crushing offensive that resulted in the victory of
Caporetto: the Italian army was routed, but after retreating more than
100km, it was able to reorganise and hold at the Battle of the Piave
River. In 1918, the Austrians repeatedly failed to break the Italian line,
and, decisively defeated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, surrendered to
the Entente powers in November.

Throughout
the war, Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, Conrad von Hötzendorf had a
deep hatred for the Italians because he had always perceived them to be
the greatest threat to his state. Their betrayal in 1915 enraged him even
further. His hatred for Italy blinded him in many ways, and he made many
foolish tactical and strategic errors during the campaigns in Italy.

The
War in the Balkans

After
repelling three Austrian invasions during August-December 1914, Serbia
fell to combined invasion by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
Kingdom of Bulgaria, (the latter of which joined the Central Powers in
September, 1915) in October 1915. The Serbian army was defeated at Gjilan
Kosovo (near the ancient mining city of Novo Brdo), then retreated into
Albania and Greece. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at
Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure the Greek
government into war against the Central Powers. Unfortunately for the
Allies, the pro-allied Greek government of Eleftherios Venizelos was
dismissed, by the pro-German King Constantine I, before the allied
expeditionary force had even arrived. The King then further prevented
official Greek entry into the war for two years, until 1917.

Meanwhile,
the Salonica Front proved entirely immobile, so much so that it was joked
that Salonica was the largest German prisoner of war camp. Only at the
very end of the war, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops
had been removed, leaving the Front held by the Bulgarians alone, were the
Entente powers able to make a breakthrough. This led to Bulgaria's signing
an armistice on September 29, 1918.

German
trench in swamp area near Mazuric Lakes on the Eastern Front

February
1915, before German winter-offensive started in heavy snowstorms

The
Eastern Front

Initial
Actions

While
the Western Front had reached stalemate in the trenches, the war continued
in the east. The Russian initial plans for war had called for simultaneous
invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia. Although Russia's
initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back
from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg and
Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September
1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organization soon
proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian
Empires. In the spring of 1915, the Russians were driven back in Galicia,
and, in May, the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on
Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5 and forcing the
Russians to withdraw from all of Poland, an action known as the
"Great Retreat".

The
Russian Revolution

Dissatisfaction
with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew despite the success
of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in eastern Galicia against the
Austrians, when Russian success was undermined by the reluctance of other
generals to commit their forces in support of the victorious sector
commander. Allied and Russian fortunes revived only temporarily with
Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German forces came to the aid
of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and Bucharest fell to the
Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, internal unrest grew in Russia,
as the Tsar remained out of touch at the front, while Empress Alexandra's
increasingly incompetent rule drew protests from all segments of Russian
political life, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favorite Rasputin
by conservative noblemen at the end of 1916.

In
March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg culminated in the abdication
of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak Provisional Government,
which shared power with the socialists of the Petrograd Soviet. This
division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at
home, and the army became progressively less able to effectively resist
Germany.

The
war, and the government, became more and more unpopular, and the
discontent led to a rise in popularity of the Bolshevik party, led by
Vladimir Lenin, who were able to gain power. The triumph of the Bolsheviks
in November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with
Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German
terms, but when Germany resumed the war and marched with impunity across
Ukraine, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on
March 3, 1918, which took Russia out of the war and ceded vast
territories, including Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland and Ukraine
to the Central Powers.

After
the Russians dropped out of the war, the Entente no longer existed. The
Allied powers led a small-scale invasion of Russia. The invasion was made
with intent primarily to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources
and, to a lesser extent, to support the Whites in the Russian Revolution.
Troops landed in Archangel (see North Russia Campaign) and in Vladivostok.

A
carrying party of the Royal Irish Rifles in communications trench -

first
day on the Somme 1 July 1916

1917-1918

Events
of 1917 would prove decisive in ending the war, although their effects
would not be fully felt until 1918. The British naval blockade of Germany
began to have a serious impact on morale and productivity on the German
home-front. In response, in February 1917, the German General Staff (OHL)
were able to convince Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg to declare
unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of
the war. Tonnage sunk rose above 500,000 tons per month from February
until July, peaking at 860,000 tons in April. After July, the newly
introduced convoy system was extremely effective in neutralizing the
U-boat threat. Britain was safe from the threat of starvation.

The
decisive victory of Germany at the Battle of Caporetto led to the Allied
decision at the Rapallo Conference to form the Supreme Allied Council at
Versailles to co-ordinate plans and action. Previously British and French
armies had operated under separate command systems.

In
December, the Central Powers signed an Armistice with Russia, thereby
releasing troops from the eastern front for use in the west. Ironically,
German troop transfers could have been greater if their territorial
acquisitions had not been so dramatic. With both German reinforcements and
new American troops pouring into the Western Front, the final outcome of
the war was to be decided in that front. The Central Powers knew that they
could not win a protracted war now that American forces were certain to be
arriving in increasing numbers, but held high hopes for a rapid offensive
in the West, using their reinforced troops and new infantry tactics.
Furthermore, the rulers of both the Central Powers and the Allies became
more fearful of the threat first raised by Ivan Bloch in 1899, that
protracted industrialized war threatened social collapse and revolution
throughout Europe. Both sides urgently sought a decisive, rapid victory on
the Western Front as they were both fearful of collapse or stalemate.

President
Wilson before Congress announcing break in relations with Germany

February
3, 1917

Entry
of the United States

America's
policy of insisting on neutral rights while also trying to broker a peace
resulted in tensions with both Berlin and London. US president Woodrow
Wilson repeatedly warned that he would not tolerate unrestricted submarine
warfare, and the Germans repeatedly promised to stop. In January 1917 the
German military decided that unrestricted submarine warfare was the best
gamble to choke British supplies before the American troops could arrive
in large numbers. A proposal to Mexico to join the war was exposed in
February, bringing war closer.

After
further U-boat attacks on American merchant ships, Wilson requested that
Congress declare war on Germany, which it did on April 6, 1917. The House
approved the war resolution 373-50, the Senate 82-6, with opposition
coming mostly from German American districts. Wilson hoped war could be
avoided with Austria-Hungary; however, when it kept its loyalty to
Germany, the US declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917.

Although
the American contribution to the war was important, particularly in terms
of the threat posed by an increasing US infantry presence in Europe, the
United States was never formally a member of the Allies, but an
"Associated Power." Significant numbers of fresh American troops
only arrived in Europe in the summer of 1918, when they started arriving
at 10,000 a day.

Germany
miscalculated that it would be many more months before large numbers of
American troops could be sent to Europe, and that, in any event, the
U-boat offensive would prevent their arrival.

The
United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the
British Grand Fleet, a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and
several submarines to the Azores and to Bantry Bay, Ireland to help guard
convoys. Several regiments of U.S. Marines were also dispatched to France.
However, it would be some time before the United States would be able to
contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.

The
British and French wanted the United States to send its infantry to
reinforce their troops already on the battlelines, and not use scarce
shipping to bring over supplies. Thus the Americans primarily used British
and French artillery, airplanes and tanks. However, General John J.
Pershing, American Expeditionary Force (AEF) commander, refused to break
up American units to be used as reinforcements for British Empire and
French units (though he did allow African American combat units to be used
by the French). Pershing ordered the use of frontal assaults, which had
been discarded by that time by British Empire and French commanders as too
costly in lives of their troops. To the astonishment of the Allies, the
dispirited Germans broke and ran when the Americans came running, and the
AEF suffered the lowest casualty rate of any army on the Western Front.
(Most of its deaths were due to disease.)

Most
of World War I, Allied forces were stuck in trenches on Western Front

German
Spring Offensive of 1918

German
General Ludendorff drew up plans (codenamed Operation Michael) for a 1918
general offensive along the Western Front. This Spring Offensive sought to
divide the British Empire and French armies in a series of feints and
advances. The German leadership hoped to strike a decisive blow against
the enemy before significant United States forces could be deployed.
Before the offensive even began, Ludendorff made what may have been a
fatal mistake by leaving the elite Eighth Army in Russia and sending over
only a small portion of the German forces from the east to aid the
offensive in the west.

Operation
Michael opened on 21 March 1918, with an attack against British Empire
forces, towards the rail junction at Amiens. It was Ludendorff's intention
to split the British Empire and French armies at this point. German forces
achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 km. For the first time since 1914,
maneuver had returned to the battlefield.

British
and French trenches were defeated using novel infiltration tactics. Up to
this time, attacks had been characterized by long artillery bombardments
and continuous-front mass assaults. However, in the Spring Offensive, the
German Army used artillery briefly and infiltrated small groups of
infantry at weak points, attacking command and logistics areas and
surrounding points of serious resistance. These isolated positions were
then destroyed by more heavily armed infantry. German success relied
greatly on this tactic.

The
front line had now moved to within 120 kilometers of Paris. Three
super-heavy Krupp railway guns advanced and fired 183 shells on Paris,
causing many Parisians to flee the city. The initial stages of the
offensive were so successful that German Kaiser Wilhelm II declared March
24 a national holiday. Many Germans thought victory to be close; however,
after heavy fighting, the German offensive was halted. The Germans had a
brilliant new stormtrooper tactics that avoided the trenches and sent
small units on preplanned raids deep behind the lines to control and
communication centers. That worked very well but the Germans, lacking
tanks or motorized artillery, were unable to consolidate their positions.
The British and French learned that they had to fall back a few miles and
the Germans would be disorganized and vulnerable to counterattack.

American
divisions, which Pershing had sought to field as an independent force,
were assigned to the depleted French and British Empire commands on 28
March. A supreme command of Allied forces was created at the Doullens
Conference, in which British Field Marshal Douglas Haig handed control of
his forces over to Ferdinand Foch.

Following
Operation Michael, Germany launched Operation Georgette to the north
against the Channel ports. This was halted, by the Allies, with less
significant territorial gains to Germany. Operations Blücher and Yorck
were then conducted by the German Army to the south, broadly towards
Paris. Next, Operation Marne was launched on 15 July as an attempt to
encircle Reims, beginning the Second Battle of the Marne. The resulting
Allied counterattack marked their first successful offensive of the war.
By July 20, the Germans were back at their Kaiserschlacht starting lines,
having achieved nothing. Following this last phase of the ground war in
the West, the German Army never again held the initiative. German
casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many of
the highly trained stormtroopers. Their best soldiers were gone, just as
the Americans started arriving.

Meanwhile,
Germany was crumbling internally as well. Anti-war marches were a frequent
occurrence and morale within the army was at low levels. Industrial output
had fallen 53% from 1913.

American
engineers returning from the front

during
Battle of St Mihiel Sept 1918

Allied
victory: summer and fall 1918

The
Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive began on
August 8, 1918. The Battle of Amiens developed with III Corps Fourth
British Army on the left, the First French Army on the right, and the
Canadian and Australian Corps spearheading the offensive in the centre. It
involved 414 tanks of the Mark IV and Mark V type, and 120,000 men. They
advanced as far as twelve kilometres into German-held territory in just
seven hours. Erich Ludendorff referred to this day as "the Black Day
of the German army".

However,
after a few days, the offensive had slowed down— British Empire units
had encountered problems with all but seven tanks. On 15 August, General
Haig called a halt and began planning a new offensive in Albert. This
Second Battle of the Somme began on August 21. Some 130,000 United States
troops were involved, along with soldiers from Third and Fourth British
Armies. It was an overwhelming success for the Allies. The Second German
Army was pushed back over a 55km front. The town of Bapaume was captured
on August 29 and by September 2, the Germans were on the Hindenburg Line,
the starting point of the War.

The
Allied attempt to take the Hindenburg Line (the Meuse-Argonne Offensive)
began September 26, as 260,000 American soldiers went "over the
top". All divisions were successful in capturing their initial
objectives, except the U.S. 79th Infantry Division, which met stiff
resistance at Montfaucon and took an extra day to capture the objective.

By
the start of October, it was evident that Germany could no longer mount a
successful defense, let alone a counterattack. Numerically on the
frontline they were increasingly outnumbered, with the few new recruits
too young or too old to help much. Rations were cut for men and horses
because the food supply was critical. Ludendorff had decided, by October
1, that Germany had two ways out of the War—total annihilation or an
armistice. He recommended the latter to senior German officials at a
summit on that very same day. During October, Pershing's artillery
continued to unrelentingly pound the exhausted and bewildered Germans, all
along the Meuse-Argonne front. The Allied pressure did not let up until
the end of the war.

Meanwhile,
news of Germany's impending military defeat had spread throughout the
German Armed forces. The threat of general mutiny was rife. Naval
commander Admiral Scheer and Ludendorff decided to launch a last ditch
attempt to restore the "valour" of the German Navy. Knowing any
such action would be vetoed by the government of Max von Baden, Ludendorff
decided not to inform him. Nonetheless, word of the impending assault
reached sailors at Kiel. Many rebelled and were arrested, refusing to be
part of a naval offensive which they believed to be nothing more than a
suicide bid. It was Ludendorff who took the blame for this—the Kaiser
dismissed him on 26 October.

With
power coming into the hands of new men in Berlin, further fighting became
impossible. With 6 million German casualties (1.8 million dead), they
moved toward peace. Prince Max von Baden took charge of the new German
government. Negotiations for a peace began immediately upon his
appointment. In the matter of the German monarchy, he was torn between the
idea of a constitutional monarchy--in which he himself was in line for the
crown-- or a republic. Wilson demanded the abdication of the Kaiser and
there was no resistance when Philipp Scheidemann on November 9 declared
Germany to be a republic. Von Baden then announced that the Kaiser was to
abdicate, along with all other princes in the Reich. Imperial Germany was
dead; a new Germany had been born: the Weimar Republic.

End
of the war

The
collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to
sign an armistice (29 September 1918). The sailors of Germany's High Seas
Fleet mutinied starting 29 October. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire
capitulated. On November 3, Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce to the
Italian Commander to ask terms. The Armistice with Austria was granted to
take effect at three o'clock on the afternoon of November 4. Austria and
Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg
monarchy and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Following
the outbreak of the German Revolution, a republic was proclaimed on 9
November, marking the end of the monarchy. The Kaiser fled the next day to
the neutral Netherlands, which granted him political asylum (see Weimar
Republic for details).

On
11 November, an armistice with Germany was signed in a railroad carriage
at Compiègne in France where Germans had previously dictated terms to
France, ending the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. At 1100 hours that day
("eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month"), a
ceasefire came into effect and the opposing armies on the Western Front
began to withdraw from their positions. Canadian George Lawrence Price is
traditionally regarded as the last soldier killed in the Great War: he was
shot by a German Sniper at 1130 hours the very same day. A formal state of
war between the two sides persisted for another seven months until it was
finally ended by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919
with Germany and the following treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria
and The Ottoman Empire signed at St. Germain, Trianon, Neuilly and Sèvres
respectively. However, the latter treaty with the Ottoman Empire was
followed by strife and a final peace treaty was signed by the Allied
Powers and the country that would shortly become the Republic of Turkey,
at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

Many
war memorials date the end of the war as being when the Versaille treaty
was signed, 1919; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end
concentrate on the Armistice of 1918; however, the formal ending of all
hostilities was not until 1923.

Economics
of war

Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) increased for the main Allies (the UK, Italy, and
U.S.), but decreased in France and Russia, in neutral Netherlands, and in
the main three Central Powers. The shrinkage in GDP in Austria, Russia,
France, and the Ottoman Empire reached 30 to 40 percent. In Austria, for
example, most of the pigs were slaughtered and, at war's end, there was no
meat.

All
nations had increases in the government's share of GDP, surpassing fifty
percent in both Germany and France and nearly reaching fifty percent in
the UK. To pay for purchases in the US, the UK cashed in its massive
investments in American railroads, then began borrowing heavily on Wall
Street. Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916, but
with war imminent with Germany, he allowed a massive increase in US
government lending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of
these loans, which, in part, were funded by German reparations, which, in
turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system
collapsed in 1931 and the loans were never repaid.

One
of the most dramatic effects was the expansion of governmental powers and
responsibilities in Britain, France, the United States, and the Dominions
of the British Empire. In order to harness all the power of their
societies, new government ministries and powers were created. New taxes
were levied, and laws enacted, all designed to bolster the war effort,
many of which have lasted to this day.

At
the same time, the war strained the abilities of the formerly large and
bureaucratized governments such as in Austria-Hungary and Germany. Here,
however, the long term effects were clouded by the defeat of these
governments.

Families
were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of
the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in
unprecedented numbers, at least in many of the Entente powers. At the same
time, industry needed to replace the lost laborers sent to war. This aided
the struggle for voting rights for women.

As
the war slowly turned into a war of attrition, conscription was
implemented in some countries. This issue was particularly explosive in
Canada, and opened a political gap between the French-Canadians, who
claimed their true loyalty was to Canada and not the British Empire, and
the English-speaking majority which saw the war as a duty to both Empire
and Canada, and a way of demonstrating leadership and high-contribution to
the British Empire. Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden pushed through a
Military Service Act that caused the Conscription Crisis of 1917.

In
Britain rationing was finally imposed in early 1918 and was limited to
meat, sugar and fats (butter and oleo)--but not bread; the new system
worked smoothly. From 1914 to 1918 trade union membership doubled, from a
little over four million to a little over eight million. Work stoppages
and strikes became frequent in 1917-18 as the unions expressed grievances
regarding prices, liquor control, pay disputes, "dilution,"
fatigue from overtime and from Sunday work, and inadequate housing.
Conscription put into uniform nearly every physically fit man, six million
out of ten million eligible in Britain (not including Ireland). Of these
about 750,000 lost their lives and 1,700,000 were wounded. Most deaths
were to young unmarried men; however 160,000 wives lost husbands and
300,000 children lost fathers. [Havighurst p 134-5]

Nieuport
Fighter France 1917

Technology

The
First World War was a clash of 20th century technology with 19th century
tactics. This time, millions of soldiers, both volunteers and conscripts
fought on all sides, with Kitchener's Army being a notable all volunteer
force.

Much
of the war's combat involved trench warfare, where hundreds often died for
each metre of land gained. Many of the deadliest battles in history
occurred during the First World War. Such battles include Ypres, Vimy
Ridge, Marne, Cmbrai, Somme, Verdun, and Gallipoli. Artillery was
responsible for the largest number of casualties during the First World
War. The war was consumed vast quantities of explosives. During the war,
the [Haber process] of nitrogen fixation was employed to provide the
German forces with a continuing supply of powder for the ongoing conflict
in the face of Brittish naval control over the trade routes for naturally
occurring nitrates.

The
First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare and aerial
bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1907 Hague
Convention. Chemical warfare
was a major distinguishing factor of the war. Gases used ranged from tear
gas to disabling chemicals such as mustard gas and killing agents like
phosgene. Only a small proportion of total war casualties were caused by
gas, but it achieved harassment and psychological effects. Effective
countermeasures to gas were found in gas masks and hence in the later
stages of the war, as the use of gas increased, in many cases its
effectiveness was diminished.

Fixed-wing
aircraft were first usedilitarily during the First World War. Initial uses
consisted primarily of reconnaissance, though this developed into
ground-attack and fighter duties as well. Strategic bombing aircraft were
created principally by the Germans and British, though the former used
Zeppelins to this end as well.

U-boats
(submarines)
were used in combat shortly after the war began. Alternating between
restricted and unrestricted submarine warfare during the First Battle of
the Atlantic, they were employed by the Kaiserliche Marine in a strategy
of defeating the British Empire through a tonnage war. The deaths of
British merchantmen and the invulnerability of U-boats led to the
development of several countermeasures: depth charges (1916), hydrophones
(passive sonar, 1917), blimps, hunter-killer submarines (HMS R-1,
1917), ahead-throwing weapons, & dipping hydrophones (both abandoned
1918). To extend their operations, the Germans proposed supply submarines
(1916). Most of these would be forgotten in the interwar period until
World War II revived the need.

Tanks
were introduced in World War I by the British and created mechanized
warfare that dominated the rest of the 20th century. The first tank was
nicknamed Mother. The first use of tanks was during the Battle of
the Somme on 15 September 1916. This was not as successful as intended,
but as a start the tanks proved their value against the machine gun.
Trenches, the machine gun, air reconnaissance, barbed wire, and modern
artillery with fragmentation shells helped stalemate the battle lines of
World War I by making massed infantry attacks deadly for the attacker. The
infantry was armed mostly with a bolt action magazine rifle, but the
machine gun with the ability to fire hundreds of rounds per minute
stalemated infantry attacks as a defensive weapon; therefore, the British
sought a solution and created the tank. Their first use proved tanks
needed infantry support and massed formations, but within a year the
British were fielding tanks by the hundreds and showed their potential
during the Battle of Cambrai, in November 1917, breaking the Hindenburg
Line while capturing 8000 enemy and 100 artillery guns.

Dirigible
balloons were used as stationary reconnaissance points on the front lines.
Balloons commonly had a crew of two with parachutes: upon an enemy air
attack on the flammable balloon the balloon crew would parachute out.
Recognised for their value as observer platforms, they were important
targets of enemy aircraft; fixed, they were also heavily defended by
antiaircraft guns. Blimps and balloons helped contribute to the stalemate
of the trench warfare of World War I, and the dirigible balloons
contributed to air to air combat among the aircraft to defend the skies
for air superiority due to its significant reconnaissance value. The
Germans conducted air raids during 1915 and 1916 on England and London
with dirigible balloons with the intent of damaging the morale and will to
fight of the British and cause aircraft to be reassigned to England away
from the front lines. Dirigible balloons were part of the new found aerial
warfare of World War I.

Aftermath

The
First World War ended with a Europe scarred by trenches, spent resources,
and littered with the bodies of the millions who died in battle. The
direct consequences of World War I brought many old regimes crashing to
the ground, and ultimately, would lead to the end of 300 years of European
hegemony in the world.

No
other war had changed the map of Europe so dramatically--four empires were
shattered: the German, the Austro-Hungarian, the Ottoman and the Russian.
Their four dynasties, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburgs, the Ottomans, and
the Romanovs, who had roots of power back to the days of the Crusades, all
fell during or after the war.

In
Australian and New Zealand popular legend, the First World War is known as
the nation's "baptism of fire", as it was the first major war
which the newly established countries fought, and is one of the first
cases where Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of
the British Empire. Anzac Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) is thus
held in great reverence by many Australians and New Zealanders.

Similarly,
Anglo-Canadians believe that they proved they were their own country, not
just subjects of the British Empire. Indeed, many Canadians refer to their
country as a nation "forged from fire," as Canadians were
respected internationally as an independent nation from the conflagrations
of war and bravery. Like their British
counterparts, Canadians commemorate the war dead on Remembrance Day.

Social
trauma

The
experiences of the war led to a sort of collective national trauma
afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of 1900 was
entirely gone and those who fought in the war became what is known as
"the Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from
their experiences. For the next few years, much of Europe began its
mourning, memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns.

This
social trauma manifested itself in many different ways. Some people were
revolted by nationalism and what it had caused and began to work toward a
more internationalist world through organizations such as the League of
Nations. Pacifism became increasingly popular. Others had the opposite
reaction, feeling that only strength and military might could be relied on
for protection in a chaotic and inhumane world that did not respect
hypothetical notions of civilization. Certainly a sense of disillusionment
and cynicism became pronounced, with Nihilism growing in popularity. This
disillusionment towards humanity found a cultural climax with the Dadaist
artistic movement. Many people believed that the war heralded the end of
the world as they had known it, including the collapse of capitalism and
imperialism. Communist and socialist movements around the world drew
strength from this theory, enjoying a level of popularity they had never
known before. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or
particularly harshly affected by the war, such as central Europe, Russia,
Germany, and France.

Other
names

World
War I has also been called "The Great War" (a title previously
used to refer to the Napoleonic
Wars) or sometimes "the war to end all wars" until World
War II. The term "First World War," implying an event
distinct from a "Second World War" has fallen into disfavour by
some scholars, who regard World War I as merely the first phase of a
three-decade long war spanning the period 1914–1945.

Quotations

"Yesterday
I visited the battlefield of last year. The place was scarcely
recognisable. Instead of a wilderness of ground torn up by shell, the
ground was a garden of wild flowers and tall grasses. Most remarkable of
all was the appearance of many thousands of white butterflies which
fluttered around. It was as if the souls of the dead soldiers had come to
haunt the spot where so many fell. It was eerie to see them. And the
silence! It was so still that I could almost hear the beat of the
butterflies' wings." - a British officer, 1919.

"The
First World War killed fewer victims than the Second World War, destroyed
fewer buildings, and uprooted millions instead of tens of millions - but
in many ways it left even deeper scars both on the mind and on the map of
Europe. The old world never recovered from the shock." - Edmond
Taylor, in "The Fossil Monarchies"

"Soldiers!
Heroes! The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our
regiment has been sacrificed for the honor of Belgrade and the Fatherland.
Therefore, you no longer have to worry for your lives - they do not exist
anymore. So, forward to glory! For King and Homeland! Long live the king!
Long live Belgrade!" — major Dragutin Gavrilovic, to defenders
of Belgrade in First World War

In
Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

- Canadian lieutenant colonel John McCrae, from the poem "In
Flanders Fields"

What
passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

- Wilfred Owen, from Anthem for Doomed Youth

"Gott
strafe England" was a common slogan of the German Army, which
means "May God punish England".